Kiribu

The Netherlands is famous worldwide for its Windmills, Cheese, Clogs and Tulips. Just a short trip outside Amsterdam will take you to the famous Zaanse Schans which has them all in abundance!

In the 17th century the Zaan area of Holland became one of the world’s major industrial areas with around 900 windmills processing materials and products such as linseed, mustard seed and wood.

Only 13 of this windmills remain and 6 of these are located at the Zaanse Schans open air museum. The local windmill society has kept these mills in excellent order, and you can visit each of them to see how they use wind energy to power the industrial machinery.

The Zaanse Schans has an excellent visitor center which provides information about all the sights in the village. You can wander around the village and view all the buildings for free, however some of the buildings have a small entrance fee.

The village is small, and a 30 minute walk will take you past all the traditional dutch buildings, including a clog (wooden shoe) workshop, a cheese farm, pewter foundry, bakery museum and more.

The Tulip season is at it’s peak from mid-April till mid-May, with colourful bulb fields all across the Netherlands.

The Zaanse Schans is easily accessible from Amsterdam and from Amsterdam airport (Schiphol) by bus, train (Koog-Zaandijk station) and car as well as on organised tours. It is a popular place to visit for travellers on extended stopovers in Schiphol as it is only 30 minutes away.